13Dec06

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Adopted by the General Assembly as Annex II of its Resolution A/RES/61/106 of 13 December 2006
Entry into force: 3 May 2008

The States Parties to the present Protocol have agreed as follows :

Article 1

1. A State Party to the present Protocol ("State Party") recognizes the competence of the Committee
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("the Committee") to receive and consider
communications from or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals subject to its jurisdiction
who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of the provisions of the Convention.

2. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to the
Convention that is not a party to the present Protocol.

Article 2

The Committee shall consider a communication inadmissible when:

(a) The communication is anonymous;
(b) The communication constitutes an abuse of the right of submission of such communications or
is incompatible with the provisions of the Convention;
(c) The same matter has already been examined by the Committee or has been or is being examined
under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;
(d) All available domestic remedies have not been exhausted. This shall not be the rule where the
application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to bring effective relief;
(e) It is manifestly ill-founded or not sufficiently substantiated; or when
(f) The facts that are the subject of the communication occurred prior to the entry into force of the
present Protocol for the State Party concerned unless those facts continued after that date.

Article 3

Subject to the provisions of article 2 of the present Protocol, the Committee shall bring any
communications submitted to it confidentially to the attention of the State Party. Within six months,
the receiving State shall submit to the Committee written explanations or statements clarifying the
matter and the remedy, if any, that may have been taken by that State.

Article 4

1. At any time after the receipt of a communication and before a determination on the merits has
been reached, the Committee may transmit to the State Party concerned for its urgent consideration
a request that the State Party take such interim measures as may be necessary to avoid possible
irreparable damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violation.

2. Where the Committee exercises its discretion under paragraph 1 of this article, this does not imply
a determination on admissibility or on the merits of the communication.

Article 5

The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining communications under the present
Protocol. After examining a communication, the Committee shall forward its suggestions and
recommendations, if any, to the State Party concerned and to the petitioner.

Article 6

1. If the Committee receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations by a State
Party of rights set forth in the Convention, the Committee shall invite that State Party to cooperate
in the examination of the information and to this end submit observations with regard to the
information concerned.

2. Taking into account any observations that may have been submitted by the State Party concerned
as well as any other reliable information available to it, the Committee may designate one or more
of its members to conduct an inquiry and to report urgently to the Committee. Where warranted and
with the consent of the State Party, the inquiry may include a visit to its territory.

3. After examining the findings of such an inquiry, the Committee shall transmit these findings to
the State Party concerned together with any comments and recommendations.

4. The State Party concerned shall, within six months of receiving the findings, comments and
recommendations transmitted by the Committee, submit its observations to the Committee.

5. Such an inquiry shall be conducted confidentially and the cooperation of the State Party shall be
sought at all stages of the proceedings.

Article 7

1. The Committee may invite the State Party concerned to include in its report under article 35 of
the Convention details of any measures taken in response to an inquiry conducted under article 6 of
the present Protocol.

2. The Committee may, if necessary, after the end of the period of six months referred to in article
6.4, invite the State Party concerned to inform it of the measures taken in response to such an
inquiry.

Article 8

Each State Party may, at the time of signature or ratification of the present Protocol or accession
thereto, declare that it does not recognize the competence of the Committee provided for in articles
6 and 7.

Article 9

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of the present Protocol.

Article 10

The present Protocol shall be open for signature by signatory States and regional integration
organizations of the Convention at United Nations Headquarters in New York as of 30 March 2007.

Article 11

The present Protocol shall be subject to ratification by signatory States of this Protocol which have
ratified or acceded to the Convention. It shall be subject to formal confirmation by signatory regional
integration organizations of this Protocol which have formally confirmed or acceded to the
Convention. It shall be open for accession by any State or regional integration organization which
has ratified, formally confirmed or acceded to the Convention and which has not signed the Protocol.

Article 12

1. "Regional integration organization" shall mean an organization constituted by sovereign States
of a given region, to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters
governed by the Convention and this Protocol. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments
of formal confirmation or accession, the extent of their competence with respect to matters governed
by the Convention and this Protocol. Subsequently, they shall inform the depositary of any
substantial modification in the extent of their competence.

2. References to "States Parties" in the present Protocol shall apply to such organizations within the
limits of their competence.

3. For the purposes of article 13, paragraph 1, and article 15, paragraph 2, any instrument deposited
by a regional integration organization shall not be counted.

4. Regional integration organizations, in matters within their competence, may exercise their right
to vote in the meeting of States Parties, with a number of votes equal to the number of their member
States that are Parties to this Protocol. Such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any
of its member States exercises its right, and vice versa.

Article 13

1. Subject to the entry into force of the Convention, the present Protocol shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.

2. For each State or regional integration organization ratifying, formally confirming or acceding to
the Protocol after the deposit of the tenth such instrument, the Protocol shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day after the deposit of its own such instrument.

Article 14

1. Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Protocol shall not be
permitted.

2. Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.

Article 15

1. Any State Party may propose an amendment to the present Protocol and submit it to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall communicate any proposed
amendments to States Parties, with a request to be notified whether they favour a meeting of States
Parties for the purpose of considering and deciding upon the proposals. In the event that, within four
months from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States Parties favour such a
meeting, the Secretary-General shall convene the meeting under the auspices of the United Nations.
Any amendment adopted by a majority of two thirds of the States Parties present and voting shall
be submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly for approval and thereafter to all
States Parties for acceptance.

2. An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall enter
into force on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two
thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment. Thereafter, the
amendment shall enter into force for any State Party on the thirtieth day following the deposit of its
own instrument of acceptance. An amendment shall be binding only on those States Parties which
have accepted it.

Article 16

A State Party may denounce the present Protocol by written notification to the Secretary-General of
the United Nations. The denunciation shall become effective one year after the date of receipt of the
notification by the Secretary-General.

Article 17

The text of the present Protocol shall be made available in accessible formats.

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